“Then she called to the slavers, and they strolled right up to the house like that had been the plan all along. Because it had been. They dragged me to my feet and pulled a hood over my face, but I heard them talking. Heard her talking. And even then, even as they were hauling me toward their ship, I just couldn’t fucking believe that she’d done that.”
Pain radiated along Shay’s jaw; only then did she realize that she’d been clenching it for some time. She worked it loose, but tension still gripped the rest of her. “If I’d known about all this before, Drak, I would have shot her in the fucking face the moment she showed it.”
Drakkal’s chest rumbled, and he reached out to brush the backs of his fingers along her arm. He smiled. “My fierce kiraia. You’re a hundred times the warrior she could ever hope to be. I was tempted to kill her…but she’s not worth the trouble it would’ve caused. The Eternal Guard wouldn’t care what she did in the past, only that we shot her in the middle of an upper city street.
“But like I said, I heard them. I was the last target on the list Vanya made for them. It was her passage—her price to become part of their crew. Guess she’d had enough of the frontier life. Wanted a change.”
“Dirty, cowardly, bitch,” Shay muttered.
“Yeah,” he growled. “She’s a fucking zhe’gaash.”
Shay could help it; she laughed. She but her lip, hold as much of that laughter in as possible to keep from disturbing Leah, and flicked her eyes from the baby to Drakkal. “You totally upgraded. I may have done some bad shit, but least I never backstabbed anyone.”
Drakkal lifted a thick strand of Shay’s hair and curled it around his metal finger. “Shay, there is no comparison between the two of you. She is nothing. You are everything to me.”
Warmth bloomed in Shay’s chest, spreading outward. The high created by Drakkal’s love was better than any drug could provide, and it pushed aside her jealousy; Vanya really was nothing to him anymore.
“What happened after they took you?” she asked.
“They brought me and all the other people they’d captured to Caldorius, capital of the whole damned slaver universe.” He shook his head, and his tongue briefly slipped out to run over his lips. “Guess I have the sort of physique they like to see in the slave arenas, so I was bought by someone who wanted to make me a fighter. And that’s what I did. They trained me hard, and they were mean bastards, but it was a good distraction from my despair.
“Had some dark, dark days there.” He rubbed her hair between his thumb and finger and stared at it for few seconds before releasing it. “Spent a long time on the verge of just…giving up. Being done with it all. Good fighting slaves were a big investment for the owners—the crowds and gambling brought in a lot of money—so they kept most fights nonlethal, but when those death bouts came up…sometimes I really thought about just losing.
“I met Arc the day I had to fight him. It was nonlethal, and he was such a pretty, delicate thing, so”—his mouth twitched up in a small smirk—“I let him win. He’ll tell it differently, but that’s what happened.”
Shay chuckled softly. “And here I thought you were being honest with me.”
He turned his head toward her and scrunched his face as though in pain. “Ouch, terran. I could’ve put Arcanthus in his place if I’d wanted to. Like I said, he was just too pretty. Seemed a shame to damage that.”
She grinned. “And I guess I was just too pretty when I robbed you?”
“Well, you did have a gun pulled on me…”
“You had other weapons. You weren’t a helpless little kitten.”
“Could’ve fooled me on that lately,” he grumbled.
Shay knew he was referring to her pregnancy in general—but her labor more specifically. Her big, strong, fierce azheran mate had felt powerless when it came to her pain.
“You were with me the whole time, Drak. That means more than I can say.”
He shifted a little closer and brushed a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll always be with you, kiraia.”
Shay smiled and settled her hand upon his chest, over his heart. It pounded beneath her palm. “Keep going. What happened after you supposedly threw your match with Arc?”
“We had a few minutes to talk. I’d seen him around before, knew of him. He was building a reputation—I was his thirty-second win in thirty-two fights. An undefeated fighter was a big deal. And he was…not what I’d expected, considering how well he fought. He’s egotistical and insulting, but he’s charismatic, and at heart…he’s genuine. He was the one who told me about the rule on Caldorius—survive a hundred and fifty matches and you earn your freedom. Said he had some plans for after he earned his, and that he’d need good fighters like me. Don’t die, azhera.
“Like I said, I’d never really been a fighter before I was enslaved, but I took to it well, and I was good at it. And up until that point, I’d been running on anger. Didn’t really have direction. Arcanthus gave me direction. He gave me something to work toward.”
“And you’ve been together ever since,” Shay remarked. “I was wondering how the two of you met. You’re both so different…but at the same time, similar in some ways.”
Drakkal grinned. “He has a few admirable qualities. Picked most of them up from me. But all that…it’s well in the past now. It’s been almost twenty years since I saw Vanya, and it wasn’t nearly long enough. I never told anyone the truth of what she did. It was just easier to say she died when the slavers attacked. Easier to try to convince myself she was dead.”
Shay’s brows drew low. “Not even Arc?”
He shook his head. “Not even Arc.”
“But I thought you two are like”—she lifted a hand and crossed her fingers—“tight and all that. Like you had some bromance where you didn’t keep secrets from each other.”
“A bromance?”
“Yeah. It’s when two dudes are really, really close. Like…best friends and brothers and almost a couple at once?”
“Oh. Yes, we have a bromance,” he said flatly. “Whenever we go out, we twine our tails together.”
Shay narrowed her eyes. “There shall be no twining of tails. Your tail, and everything attached to it, belongs to me.”
Drakkal chuckled and purred, “It certainly does, kiraia.”
She groaned. “God, I love it when you purr. It’s going to kill me waiting until I’m healed up before I can jump your bones again.”
She didn’t even want to know the extent of the damage to her poor vagina.
That produced a low growl from his chest that sent tingles all the way down to Shay’s toes.
“I’m already feeling it, kiraia.”
“I’ll have to take care of you later then.”
It would be torture for her, but she’d enjoy pleasuring him immensely.
Drakkal took her hand and brought it to his face, rubbing his cheek against the top of it before turning it to lick her palm. The roughness of his tongue sent another tingling wave through her.
“Not until I can take care of you, too. The wait will be worth it.”
Shay smiled and stroked his jaw. It so would be.
“So anyway, why haven’t you told Arc?” Shay asked.
He released a long, slow sigh. “I don’t know. Part of me thought he might try to find her if he knew. Arc doesn’t tolerate betrayal, even when he’s not the direct victim, and when he latches on to something it can be hard to distract him from it. We had other things going on that needed his focus. And another part of me felt like I had to say she was dead because it was the only way I could free myself from the whole mess.”
“But now she’s here. And she knows you’re here. You should tell Arc, Drakkal. You can’t keep shit like that secret.”
“Yeah. And I should’ve learned by now how the past has a habit of trying bite you in the ass if you ignore it.” He angled his head to the side a little more, shifting his gaze to Leah, and gently brushed the pad of a finger along her little back. “Vanya can’t be tr
usted. After what she said to you, about you…she’s a potential threat. Need to make sure we’re all aware so we can keep an eye out. The odds of running into her again are slim, but I won’t take the chance. Not when I have so much more to lose.”
After a few seconds of silence, Drakkal leaned toward Shay and kissed her forehead again. “I’m going to talk to him now. Do you need anything?”
Shay wrapped her arms around her slumbering baby. “No, I’m good.”
“All right.” He rolled away from her, sat up at the edge of the bed, and stretched as he stood up. His fur was rumpled and sticking up all over, but he was still sexy as hell, especially with those tight pants hugging his toned ass. He walked toward the door. “Get some more rest. I’ll be back soon.”
“Remember, no tail twining,” Shay said with a smirk.
Drakkal snort-laughed. “If you don’t see it, it doesn’t count.”
Shay scoffed playfully. “So much for trust.”
“I’ll think of you while I do it, kiraia,” he said as he reached the door.
“Bet you wouldn’t like it if I said the same thing about Thargen.”
The playfulness vanished from his expression. “That’s different.”
“But he’s my friend.”
“Are you saying you have a bromance with Thargen?” he asked, lifting a brow.
“In a manner of speaking. I’m just missing the thing swinging between my legs.”
“Hurry up and heal, kiraia, and I’ll fill in that emptiness as much as you want.”
Shay grinned. “I love it when you talk dirty.”
With another chuckle, he opened the door and stepped out into the corridor, leaving Shay alone with Leah.
Shay’s smile lingered. “Hear that, body? You better hurry up.”
She turned her face back toward Leah and leaned down to press her lips to her daughter’s head. She inhaled deeply, taking in the sweet scent of her baby, and closed her eyes. Weariness poked at the edges of her consciousness. There’d been more exhaustion, anxiety, discomfort, and pain over the last several months than Shay had thought possible. Drakkal had made it so much easier to bear, but he couldn’t eliminate it, couldn’t shield her from all of it. And she knew there was more to come.
“But you are worth it,” she whispered. “And so is he.”
Drakkal felt lighter as he walked the quiet corridors in search of Arcanthus. He’d never shared his past with anyone but Arc, and that had only been in pieces—and had included the lie about Vanya. Telling Shay the story—the full, true story—had been like shedding a crippling burden he’d never realized he’d been carrying.
He’d been described by others as guarded and hard to read, and he’d never disagreed. His emotions had always been just that—his. The same for his past. It had always seemed like sharing either could only have unfairly burdened the people around him. He’d never wanted them to worry about his problems.
But while Shay—his beautiful, fierce, strong Shay—had talked about her regrets in the training area downstairs weeks ago, Drakkal had realized that sharing those things with a mate wasn’t a matter of burdening someone else, wasn’t a display of weakness. It was a sort of strength beyond any he’d known before. It was a courage he’d long been unable to muster. Drakkal had always been there for Arc and the rest of the crew, but he’d never allowed them to be there for him.
Vrek’osh, I am getting sappy.
That was all right, though. Having his true mate and a newborn cub had altered Drakkal’s perspective for the better. He wanted to share everything with her, and he could see that allowing himself to lean on her sometimes would only strengthen both of them—and their mating bond.
He turned a corner and entered the hall leading to Arcanthus’s workshop. He wasn’t going to shy away from what he meant to do now. The little spark of anxiousness and uncertainty in Drakkal’s gut meant nothing. He’d correct the one lie he’d told to Arcanthus years ago, and then everyone could move on with their lives aware of the possible threat posed by Vanya.
They could reclaim normalcy—not that Drakkal knew yet what normal meant after the birth of a cub.
Drakkal pressed the entry button beside the workshop door, walking through the moment the door opened.
Arcanthus and Samantha were reclining together on one of the couches, her body tucked against his in a languid embrace. Sam was watching the holographic flames in the flame bowl, which were constantly changing color, while Arc fiddled with her hair, weaving a trio of strands into a thin braid.
Samantha turned her attention and offered Drakkal a warm smile. “Evening, Drak.”
The sedhi glanced up at Drakkal with his center eye as his fingers continued their work. “What, you don’t even use the buzzer anymore?”
“You want privacy, lock the door,” Drakkal replied. He walked to the unoccupied couch and plopped down. His eyes ached, and his eyelids were heavy; despite having had a few hours of sleep and having not done much physically over the last day, he was exhausted. He couldn’t imagine how Shay felt. But he wouldn’t complain—his weariness was the result of something more amazing and beautiful than he could express.
“You spent all that time whining because I locked the doors, and now you’re telling me to lock them?”
Drakkal released a huff and tilted his head back, leaning it against the backrest. “Figure it out, sedhi. I don’t have time to be your mother right now.”
“How’s little Leah?” Samantha asked.
A wide grin stretched across Drakkal’s lips. “She’s perfect. Sleeping with Shay right now.”
Kraasz ka’val…I’m a father.
That thought had struck him several times since Leah was born, and each time had been just as surreal as the last. A few months ago, the idea of Drakkal having a cub would’ve been absurd—but only slightly more so than the idea of him finding his mate.
Perhaps the reality of the situation would eventually set in, but he didn’t think his awe would fade any time soon.
“Shay still doing okay?” asked Sam.
“Yeah,” Drakkal replied. “She’s exhausted, but I think all she’s really wanted to do is stare at Leah. Can’t blame her. Painkillers Urgand gave her are helping her get comfortable, at least.”
Drakkal could hear the warm smile in Sam’s voice when she said, “Good.”
Silence settled over the room; it was a comfortable, companionable sort of silence, but it increasingly reminded Drakkal how much he missed his mate and cub as the seconds passed. Finally, he lifted his head and looked at his friends.
Samantha’s eyes were on Drakkal, bright with shimmering, reflected firelight. The joy on her face was unlike any Drakkal had seen there before—and Sam seemed happy just about all the time. Arcanthus had finished with her hair and was staring at her face. Though his expression was subtler than hers, it was beaming with love, adoration, and something…more.
Drakkal understood the look on Arc’s face—it was the same way Drakkal looked at Shay. He smiled to himself and let a few more seconds trickle by. It had been good to see his oldest, dearest friend, his brother, so content over the last year. The bouts of darkness and depression to which the sedhi had long been prone to had been absent in all that time. Arcanthus wasn’t a different person because of Samantha, but he was certainly the best version of himself.
That made Drakkal want to get back to Shay and Leah even more.
“Sorry for interrupting,” Drakkal said, “but I need to borrow Arc for a few minutes. Need to talk to him about something.”
“No problem, Drak. Just don’t rough him up too much, okay?” Picking up her tablet from the couch beside her, she tucked it against her side, disentangled herself from Arcanthus’s embrace, and patted the sedhi’s thigh as she stood up. “I’m going to take a shower. Don’t take too long…cause I’ll be waiting.”
Arcanthus grinned and ran his tail down her leg. “I could just come now. I’m sure Drakkal would understand.”
Sam’
s cheeks flushed, and she smiled.
“Yeah, I would understand,” Drakkal said with a chuckle. “But it won’t hurt to wait a little, sedhi. Build some anticipation.”
“I’ll leave you guys to it,” Sam said. She hurried to the door and out into the hallway.
Arcanthus stared after her, and even when the door closed and she was no longer in sight, his gaze lingered on the place she’d been. His expression was almost wistful, and Drakkal couldn’t recall if he’d ever seen Arc look like that in all the years they’d known each other.
“You all right?” Drakkal asked.
Laughing softly, Arcanthus shook his head, keeping his gaze on the closed door. “Seeing Samantha hold little Leah earlier, seeing that joy and wonder on her face…” He sighed and finally turned to face Drakkal. “I didn’t think my instincts could get any stronger regarding Sam, but they’re going crazy right now.”
Drakkal tilted his head, studying Arcanthus closely. “You saying you want a cub, Arc?”
“I…” Arcanthus’s mouth hung open for a few seconds before he chuckled and smirked. “Yes. I think that’s exactly what I’m getting at.”
“Just to be clear, sedhi, Leah’s mine. Get your own.”
“That would be the plan, azhera…whenever Sam’s ready, that is. Strange how I’d never even considered the notion before Samantha. Even now, I have a hard time imagining myself as a father.”
“Me, too.”
“But you are one now.”
Drakkal grinned. “Meant I have a hard time picturing you as a father, too.”
Arcanthus’s brows rose. “Oh? Well then, you can go fuck yourself.” He leaned back, crossed one leg over his opposite knee, and spread his arms to either side along the backrest. “What was it you wanted to discuss?”
Drawing in a deep breath, Drakkal leaned forward and settled his elbows on his thighs. “Need to tell you the truth about something I haven’t been honest about for a long, long time.”
“This ought to be interesting.”
“Just…let me tell you before you give me any shit, all right?”
Untamed Hunger Page 28
